170 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. III. No. 57. 



The book is emphaticallj' an Ameiican book, 

 and especially well adapted for American stu- 

 dents. 



A chapter is devoted to volcanoes, earth- 

 quakes, geysers; another to the general topog- 

 raphy of the land. The relations of man to 

 his environment, and the products of the rocks 

 that are of leading economic importance, are al- 

 so considered as fully as the space available 

 will allow. 



An important feature of the book, and one that 

 places it in . advance of all other similar trea- 

 tises, is the free and one might say almost lavish 

 use of photographs. While some of them are 

 so much reduced and so poorly printed that 

 they have lost their beauty, and are even ob- 

 scure and of little value, yet the preference, in 

 many instances, of photographs over sketches 

 and wood engravings for text-book use is 

 thoroughly demonstrated. 



At the close of each chapter there is a short 

 list of books which will aid the teacher in ex- 

 tending the subjects outlined in the text, and 

 enable him to add fresh description and dis- 

 cussions from authoritative sources. 



Now that a text-book of rational physical 

 geography, designed for school-room use, is 

 available, which presents the modern aspects of 

 the subject as well, perhaps, as could be done 

 in an elementary treatise, there is no longer an 

 excuse for practically excluding this attractive 

 and stimulating branch of nature study from 

 our schools. It has frequently been stated that 

 it is useless to attempt to teach physical 

 geography in its modern dress, for the reason 

 that properly trained teachers were not avail- 

 able. With Tarr's book in hand and works of 

 reference available, there is no reason why 

 many graduates of normal schools and colleges 

 should not prepare themselves for this work. 

 Without, however, a certain indescribable 

 sympathy with nature, a deep appreciation of 

 the beauties of form and color in a landscape, 

 and a quenchless thirst to know how the num- 

 berless features of the land, sea and sky came 

 to be what we find them, one need not expect 

 great success as a teacher of physical geography. 

 Given a love of nature and such a guide-book 

 as Prof. Tarr has compiled, and the path lead- 

 ing to the commanding height from which the 



history of the earth's surface can be read as 

 from a printed page may be readily reached. 



Necessary adjuncts to a text-book of physical 

 geography, are maps, especially of the region 

 where the teacher is located, large-sized photo- 

 graphs or lantern views, globes, models, etc. 

 These appliances, however, are of compara- 

 tively little use, unless, as expressed by Davis, 

 ' the outsight is aided by the insight. ' 



In closing I wish to say, as has been stated in 

 the report on a recent conference in geography, 

 that the study of physical geography demands 

 an advanced position in both school and college 

 training, for the reason that it develops the 

 power of observation, the powers of scientific im- 

 agination, and the power of reasoning. 



Israel C. Russell. 



The Ch-eat Frozen Land : Narrative of a winter 

 journey across the Tundras and a sojourn 

 among the Samoyads. By Feedeeick Geoege 

 Jackson. Macmillan & Co. , New York. 1895. 

 In this pleasantly written and by no means 

 over-scientific volume, the leader of the Jackson- 

 Harmsworth Polar Expedition (now passing its 

 second winter in the region of Franz Josef 

 Land) gives the narrative of a long sledge- 

 journey across the frozen lands of northern 

 Russia, from the Yugor Strait to the Varanger 

 Fjord — a journey undertaken primarily with a 

 view of testing certain requirements of travel 

 which might be found necessary in the more 

 arduous Polarctio work for which the author 

 had been preparing. The land-traverse com- 

 passed some twenty-five hundred miles across 

 the Great and Little Tundras, and over a soli- 

 tude, as stated in the prefatory remarks of 

 Mr. Montefiore, ' through which no'Englishman 

 had ever passed; of which no sufficient map 

 existed ; whose table of river-labyrinths, ancient 

 beaches and lost bays had never been told; of 

 whose winter climate no account was to be dis- 

 covered in the English tongue.' Just why these 

 deficiencies in English knowledge and energy 

 are so strongly emphasized does not appear 

 clear, and it can, perhaps, hardly be said 

 that Mr. Jackson's travels acquire importance 

 through them alone. 



There is, much in this book to interest the 

 general reader, and particularly acceptable are 



